FUJISAWA, Japan - These days, data get stored on disks, computer chips, hard drives and good old-fashioned paper. Scientists in Japan see something far smaller and more durable â€” bacteria.

The four characters that represent the genetic coding in DNA work much like digital data. Character combinations can stand for specific letters and symbols â€” so codes in genomes can be translated, or read, to produce music, text, video and other content.

While ink may fade and computers may crash, bacterial information lasts as long as a species stays alive â€” possibly a mind-boggling million years â€” according to Professor Masaru Tomita, who heads the team of researchers at Keio University.

Nice! This means that any data stored also couldn't be destroyed/corrupted by magnetism or anything of that sort! Formatting your HDD would be easier too, just send an electric impulse to your bacteria to reaarange their genetic code and BAM! HDD - Zeroed.

Nice! This means that any data stored also couldn't be destroyed/corrupted by magnetism or anything of that sort! Formatting your HDD would be easier too, just send an electric impulse to your bacteria to reaarange their genetic code and BAM! HDD - Zeroed.

Nifty stuff.

Not so fast....very strong magnetic fields can cause DNA mutations, and so can ionizing radiation, and chemical toxins in the environment. Even nature can produce varying results- its evolution.

Even your post has an oxymoron that neglects the laws of Physics- an electric impulse is related to a magnetic field. The generation of a magnetic field causes electrical current or vice versa.

The thing about coding as DNA is, what if your data successfully exists as a viable protein or enzyme. You type in: "I love twinkies" and a few minutes later, toxic fumes start pouring out of your "culture 2 duo".

The thing about coding as DNA is, what if your data successfully exists as a viable protein or enzyme. You type in: "I love twinkies" and a few minutes later, toxic fumes start pouring out of your "culture 2 duo".